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Friday, December 04, 2015

Dear Readers, I read
as many Christmas books as I can find during October, November, and December.
Right now, I’m reading this novella collection, Christmas Mail-Order Angel. I’ve always loved mail-order bride
stories. I even wrote a mail-order bride novel. I’m really enjoying this
collection. I think you will, too.

Welcome back,
Darlene. You have a lot of books out now. What is your favorite setting to use
in your books?

I write primarily about the West. I’ve experimented with Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming, but I write mostly about settings I know first-hand:
Texas (8 books), Oklahoma
(7 books), and Colorado
(5). I moved to Colorado
in 1991 and felt like I had come home. Now I live in Oklahoma,
and I’ve spent time in Texas
as well.

But I’ve written the most books set in Vermont. Eight books are a continuous series
covering Maple Notch, Vermont,
from the Revolutionary War to the present. The other two books are novellas. I
grew up in New England, and Vermont
was the state I was able to contract when Barbour was publishing books about
all fifty states in the country.

What do you look for
when you’re shopping for a book to buy for yourself?

Hmm. Good question. Practical questions eliminate a lot of
good books: is it available on Kindle? Living in a nursing home, I can’t
accumulate hardbacks the way I used to. How much does it cost? I’ve also become
leery of buying books that are part of series, at least sci fi.

After that. The cover, the description, an author I have
enjoyed before. Even the length (shorter is better for me.). The setting does
influence my choice as well. A book set in Colorado
is going to catch my interest before a book set in Iowa. No offense meant to Iowans. I just
don’t know your state well enough to appreciate it.

Give us a little tour
of the setting for this book.

These settings are fun. They’re both fictional. It’s a mail-order
bride series. The ladies all come from the town of Merville,
Maine. “Mer”
is the French word for sea, and “ville” is the French word for town (I think).
It’s a fishing village that has lost too many men to the Civil War and to the
sea.

Angel Vale is located in southwestern CrookCounty is Wyoming. It’s named for a rock formation
near the town. Gold was discovered in the region during the Black Hills Gold
Rush. There’s not a Christian woman to be found in the town. It’s not even
quite a town yet. That’s why the men want brides.

I also tried NANOWRIMO (National Novel Writing Month) for
the first time this November, and I completed the first draft of a new mystery
series, Case Closed. I am looking forward to publishing a new series this year.

I have a devotional
in a book that makes a good advent read—21
Days of Christmas. It’s a fiction lovers devotional book with short stories
by fiction authors with a devotion after the story that ties to the story. Please
give us a glimpse inside your home.

You mean the home I share with 100 other people? ☺ I share a
room with one person. Into my half of the room, I’ve squeezed family pictures,
collages of my daughter’s poems, my clothes, toiletries, and one copy of each
of my books, a couple of Bibles and all of my books online. My desk is my
bedside table.

Is this novel part of
a series or a stand-alone book?

Jacob’s Christmas Dream is the first novella about eleven mail
order brides going to Wyoming
to marry gold rush miners. The complete collection of eleven stories has just
been published as Christmas Mail-Order Angels: the Complete 11 Volume Set

Tell us about the
story.

Becky Patterson escapes the stifling life at her father’s
parsonage for an exciting life as a mail-order bride ... only to learn her
potential groom is a part-time preacher, Jake Underwood. Her dreams of working
alongside Jake in his store stall when an itinerant preacher wants to ordain
Jake as pastor of the growing church. Will Becky accept God’s calling on her
life—or will she reject Jake’s love and the future God has planned for them?

Jake Underwood looked at Matt across the packing crate he
was unloading onto a shelf at his store in the small mining town. “What's this
all about?”

Matt’s grin widened. “Why, I’ve figured how to make me some
money, seeing as how my claim on the river didn’t make me enough money to earn
a plug nickel. I thought I’d ask you to give it a look-see and tell me what you
think.”

Jake frowned as he read the words again, wondering if he was
misreading Matt’s sloppy handwriting. “Christmas Angels? Marriage broker? Are
you setting up in the mail order bride business?” Matt had experimented with a
lot of money-making schemes through the years, but this was his most outrageous
idea yet.

“Yup.” Matt snapped his suspenders against his chest.
“There’s plenty of men in Angel Vale ready to settle down. There’s the ranchers
who were already here settling in before they found gold last year. Then
there’s the miners who struck gold, the ones that didn’t spend it all away on
gambling and fancy duds and such. And there’s not a bride to be had in all of CrookCounty,
at least not one any god-fearing man would pick.” Matt winked. “There’s you, for
instance. Why a fine man like yourself, with a good head for business and in
good standing with the Lord, isn’t married yet is beyond me.”

Jake huffed. “You’ve got twenty years on me, and you’re not
married.”

“Maybe I wasn’t ready until now.” Matt’s smile turned
serious. “It’s time I stop drifting across the plains like tumbleweed. Gold or
not, I want to stay put here in Angel Vale. Got to stay here, to keep you in
line, don’t I?”

Jake simply smiled. “Do you really think men will pay money
for this service?” He scratched his forehead. “I’ve seen some of those
advertisements they put in the paper. Don’t cost that much. Why would they pay
you to do it for them?”

“I’m aiming to bring a whole bevy of women, find a good
match for everyone who’s interested. I’d like to see a bride for everyone who
wants one, including you and me, if you want. I’ll find someone back east to
help me out, choose the finest women while I weed through the men who are
interested.” He picked up a lemon drop, placed a penny in the change jar by the
register, and stuck the candy in his mouth. “You watch. The men’ll come out of
the woodwork for the service I aim to provide.”

A wife. Matt didn’t know how often Jake’s mind had turned toward
matrimony in recent days. He had always thought to marry when he reached
thirty, but he had passed that milestone almost a year ago. No matrimonial
prospects existed in the town of Angel
Vale. It would take a host of Christmas angels to
provide for the needs of the town’s single men.

“See what I have here,” Matt said. “I’ve found several
circulars advertising for brides. I figure we can write letters to send to all
of ‘em, and see what kind of response we get.”

“I have a better idea.” Jake pulled out his Bible. “When I
was a young boy.” Before things turned sour with his father. “Pa made me
promise on the Bible.” He lifted in the air. “That if I ever got ready to
marry, he wanted me to find a bride from the town where he grew up, Merville, Maine.
It’s right on the coast, the prettiest little place on God’s green earth to
hear him tell it.”

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